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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

So you all know I've been writing my adult Charlie Madigan series and my new YA series (Charlie #3 and YA #2). Both are due in a matter of days, really. One mid month, one at the end of the month.

Before I was published I worked on dual projects all the time. For instance, I wrote a YA called 'Blighted' and then when the rough draft was done and I went into revisions, I started on the rough draft of the first Charlie book. I found this to be easy-peasy. Revisions on one, rough draft writing on the other. Get tired of one, work on the other. I'd done this several times in earlier works as well. This works really well for me.

But that was before the days of deadlines.

The last few months, I had to work on two rough drafts at once. (Due to my own scheduling issues and personal things that caused me to put off the start of one of the books). I was very worried about 'voice' and would one voice leak into the other. But now that I'm working on revising both, I can see the voices of each character, Charlie and Ari, have maintained their own unique qualities. Both characters have become so real in my mind that maintaining voice wasn't an issue after all. I think the hardest part was switching gears from one to the other and getting mentally and creatively into the groove of each one, every day.

While it's doable, it's not something I could do repeatedly. With a family, kids, home life and other book business things, it makes life a little insane! I love working on both series, and I actually really love working on both at once -- just not when they're at the same stage in the writing process.

Working on two rough drafts simultaneously has probably been the hardest writing I have ever done. The most stressful, for sure. But now that I'm in the revision/polishing stages, things are much smoother. Thank God!! And I'm super happy with them both.